Mueller probe: What to expect Friday for Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen

Kevin Johnson and Bart Jansen USA TODAY Published 1:48 PM EST Dec 6, 2018 WASHINGTON – The window into Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s closely held investigation into Russia interference could become clearer Friday with the simple convergence of the federal court calendar. In Washington, prosecutors are due to file papers explaining last week’s abrupt collapse of a cooperation agreement with Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. The filing is expected to outline what Mueller’s team characterized as Manafort’s repeated lies and additional “crimes,” leading to a breach of his September plea agreement. His sentencing is set March 5. In New York, meanwhile, Mueller’s team also is scheduled to file a sentencing memorandum for its newest cooperating witness – former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen – in advance of his Dec. 12 sentencing on two convictions. Cohen pleaded guilty to a series of campaign finance law offenses as part of a August plea agreement with federal prosecutors in New York. He reached a separate deal with Mueller’s team last week in which he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower project in Moscow. The sentencing documents will likely reveal the scope of Cohen’s cooperation in both cases, which so far has included information about Trump’s hush money payments to two women alleging extramarital affairs with him, and the president’s efforts to conceal plans for a Moscow tower project even as Trump denied any Russian business interests during the 2016 campaign. “Given his proximity and centrality to Trump’s operation before and after… [Read full story]